Day: January 19, 2014

From thousands of miles away, these pigeons will know how to come home, flying constantly until they arrive. Rest comes only then. How do they do it? The mystery remains, yet we know it has something to do with the angle of the sun and its polarized, ultra-violent rays. In a similar way, the sun is the source for how honeybees make their configured dances, each design a special message for the other bees to know where the flowers are with the nectar. Yet homing pigeons seem to have something else⎯a memory system creating an internal map for them to follow when clouds get in the way of familiar landmarks below.

Home: there’s no place like it, as the carol sings. Welcome Home⎯next to I love you, are our favorites to hear. We have been created to rest in God alone. St. Augustine wrote: “You have made us for Yourself, O God, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.”

The outpoured Spirit of Jesus has given you an innate sense of what will bring you home with the Lord⎯even now, while heaven may seem far away. The map and manual are the Scriptures. When read with faith, they will imprint the directions homeward, and give the energy to keep flying without stopping until the Sabbath rest is complete in Jesus.

Be at home with the Lord in the Word for some precious time each day. Then, when you go about your day, others will find in you a landmark that will invite them also, to come home to Jesus.

Alphabytes are object meditations that move through the alphabet two times in the course of the fifty-two weeks in the year. “Homing Pigeon” introduces the Third Week in Epiphany: winter in the north, summer in the south.To view all of them, see the menu option Alphabytes

We skip about thirty years of Jesus’ life from his birth, Epiphany and now his baptism. All during these years his life has been quiet—nothing out of the ordinary from any other child or young adult in Nazareth.

One time while camping with my family, I created an outdoor shower. I lashed a hula-hoop to the branches of a tree in three places, a shower curtain hanging onto it. A plastic bag of water previously heated by the sun, hung from above. It had a hose and showerhead attached—all the comforts of a shower at home …almost!

There were three points to keep the hula-hoop stable. Three gives stability. Is this another reason why sacredness and completeness are associated with this number?

In John’s gospel, the episode of Jesus’ first encounter with his disciples takes place on the middle day of three days. The first day is the meeting and baptism with John the Baptist; the third day is the Marriage Feast at Cana. Feel this second day: transition from old water to the stability of new life, symbolized by the new wine.

Spend time with Jesus and the first disciples. He prepares a stable, new future for you.

Bible BreathsLamb of God: all sin removed v. 29Your grace going before me v. 30“Rabbi, where are You staying?” v. 38“We have found the Messiah.” v. 41

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This is the Third Week in Epiphany, Year A.See “Solar and Sacred Seasons” in the menu above. Sundays are dedicated to the Gospels from The Revised Common Lectionary. Year A is dedicated to the Gospel of Luke.